John Moses Browning

Browning in his later years

John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was an American gun maker who invented many guns used by Americans, both by the military and civilians. He was born in Ogden, Utah in 1855 and died in Belgium in 1926 of heart failure, aged 71. He was a Mormon and the son of his father's second wife.

He invented the repeating shotgun and made shotguns like the Winchester Model 1887, Model 1897, and Browning Auto-5. He invented pistols like the Browning Hi-Power and the M1911. He invented machine guns like the BAR, the M1917, the M1919, and the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. Some of Browning's gun models are still used by the US military today, including the M1911 and the M2.